Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/121

 CO-EDUCATION

89

CO-EDUCATION

same faculty, with the same methods and under the same regimen. This admits age and proficiency, Ijut not sex, as a factor in classification ' ' (Clarke, op. cit. be- low, p. 121). It is in this third and narrowest sense that co-education has been the subject of widespread discussion for some time past. In the United States especially the practice has grown rapidly during the last fifty years, while in European countries it has de- veloped more slowly.

Extent. — Etemeninry Schools. — At present co-edu- cation is practically universal in the elementary grades of the public schools of the United States. It also prevails to a large extent in the elementary grades of private and denominational schools, including those which are under Catholic direction, notably the pa- rochial schools. — Secondary Schools. — According to tlie Commissioner's Report for 1905-6, there were in the United States 40 public high schools for boys only, with 22,044 students, and 29 schools for girls only, with 23,203 students; while the co-educational high schools numbered 7,962 having on their rolls 283,264 boys and 394,181 girls; the difference indicated by these last figures is noteworthy. During the same year there were imder pri\ate direction 304 high schools for boys only, with 22,619 students; 500 high schools for girls only, with 27,081 students; while the private co-educational schools numbered 725 with an attendance of 26,487 boys and 25,568 girls. From these statistics it appears that even in private high schools the nimiber of boys is larger where co-education prevails than it is in schools exclusively for boys; and that the number of girls in co-educat ional schools is not very far below the nimiber in schools exclusively for girls. — Higher and Technical Edur:il ional Institutions. — Of 622 universities, colleges, and technological schools reporting to the United States Bureau of Education for the year ended June, 1906, there were for men only, 158; for women only, 129; for both men and women, 335. Comparison with earlier statistics .shows a de- cided advance in co-education. In 1889-90 the women in co-educational colleges numbered 8075, in schools of technology, 707, and in colleges for women only, 1979; the men in all colleges numbered 44.926. In 1905-6 there were 31,443 women in co-educational colleges and 6653 in colleges for women only; the number of men students was 97,738.

The tendency in Europe, generally speaking, is to ad- mit women to university courses of study, but under restrictions which vary considerably from one country to another. In Germany, women, for the most part, attend the university as "hearers", not as matricu- lated students. The custom in England is that women should reside in colleges of their own while receiving the benefit of university education. There is also considerable variety in the regulations concerning the granting of degrees to women. Replies to an inquiry issued by the" Engl i.sh Department of Education in 1897, with later revision (United States Commission- er's Report for 1904, chap, xx), .showed that of 112 universities on the Continent, in Great Britain, and in the British colonies, 86 made no distinction between men and women students, 6 admitted women by courtesy to lectures and examinations, 20 permitted them to attend some lectures only; of these 20 uni- versities, 14 were German and 6 Austrian. The pro- portion of women students to the total enrollment in the universities of Central Europe is shown in the fol- lowing table: —

Austria Total No. of Student.?, 22.749; Women, 1.32.3

France 33,818; „ 1.922

Germany .'■>1.53.i: „ 1.9.3.8

Switzerland 9.483; „ 2..594

In England, provision for the higher education of women began with the founding of Queen's College, London (1848) and Bedford College (1S49). In 1878 the University of London admitted women to exam- inations and degrees. The Honour degree examina-

tions of Cambridge were opened to women (students of Girton and Newnham colleges) in 1881 ; some of the Oxford examinations were opened to women (stu- dents of Somerville College and Lady Margaret Hall) in 1884; the Scottish universities admitted women in 1S92; the University of Durham in 1805; the Uni- versity of Wales from its foundation in 1S93. In Ire- land, both the Royal University and Trinity College, Dublin, receive women students. It should, how- ever, be noted that the number of women following university courses in England is still comparatively small. In 1905-6, the colleges mentioned above in coimexion with Oxford had in residence 136 students, and those at Cambridge, 316. On the other hand, the movement is stronger in some of the recently founded universities. Thus the institutions for women affili- ated with the London University (Bedford, Halloway, Westfield, and Royal Free Hospital) in 1905-6 num- bered 628 students. It may therefore be said that co- education in Europe, though it has made a beginning, is by no means so prominent a feature of the schools as it is in the United States. Its growth and effects are for this reason best studied in American institutions; and in these the historical facts are the more impor- tant inasmuch as they are said to furnish ample justi- fication of the policy.

Causes. — The explanation of these facts is to be sought in a variety of conditions, some of which are naturally connected with the general development of the country while others may be called artificial, in the sense that they are the application of theories or poli- cies rather than direct responses to needs, or final solu- tions of problems. Thus it is significant that co-edu- cation has found its stronghold in the Northern, Cen- tral, and Western States of the L^nion which profited most by the Congressional land grants of 1787 and 1862 and by similar grants on the part of the .several States. It was easy to argue, on the basis of demo- cratic principles, that institutions supported by public funds should offer the same advantages to all citizens. From the founding of Oberlin College, Ohio (1833), which was the first institution of its class to introduce co-education (1837), the policy spread at such a rate that by 1880 more than half the colleges, and by 1900 nearly three-fourths, had adopted it. In the more conservative East segregation was the general prac- tice until the last quarter of the nineteenth century. But the precedent established by Boston University (1869) and by Cornell (1872) was soon followed by many other Eastern institutions.

A still more powerful factor has been the public high school, which since 1850 has held an important place in the educational system. .Some schools of this class, notably those in the West, were co-educa- tional from the start; others were opened at first for boys only, but eventually they admitted girls on the same terms ; this was the case in the larger cities of the East. In 1891, only 15 out of 628 leading cities of the country had separate high schools, in 1901 the number had fallen to 12. The growth of these schools coincided with the movement in favour of higher education for women. The leaders of this movement insisted on the right of women to have equal advantages with men in the line of education; they quite overlooked or disregarded the fact that equality in this ca.se does not mean identity. But any defect in their reasoning on the subject was more than compensated for by their enthusiasm and perseverance. Their efforts, however, were in accordance with the demands made by industrial changes. The introduc- tion of labour-saving machinery' which gradually brought about the factory organization of industry, took from woman, one by one, her traditional employ- ments in the home and compelled her to seek now oc- cupations in fields hitherto occupied exclusively by man: hence the verj* natural demand for ocpial educa- tional opportunities, not merely to .secure the more